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| El Greco (1541–1614) | ||||||||||
| Doménikos Theotokópoulos, better known as El Greco, was born in Candia (now Heraklion, Crete), Greece. After mastering the post-Byzantine tradition, he moved to Venice, where it is believed Titian may have been his mentor. In 1570, he relocated to Rome, before finally settling in Toledo in 1577, where he would remain for the rest of his life. One of his first commissions in Toledo was to decorate the church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo. Early on, he followed the Venetian style closely, often emulating its finest representatives, but by 1579, after being invited by Philip II to contribute to the decoration of the Escorial, El Greco began to develop a more distinctive style. His first major work in this new direction, the Martyrdom of St Maurice, was completed in 1579, and it, along with many of his later pieces, was met with harsh criticism for its unconventional colours and unnatural proportions. Although he also painted portraits, his reputation as a portraitist was undermined by his distinctive distortions, which some found off-putting. His work is a unique fusion of Italian mannerism and the emerging Baroque, characterised by elongated, almost flame-like figures, dramatic use of light and colour, and later works that display a form of brushwork reminiscent of impressionism. While El Greco was largely overlooked until the twentieth century, he earned recognition in certain parts of Spain, with sonnets in his honour penned by poets such as Gongora and Pallavicino. He founded a school where many of his students surpassed his own achievements. El Greco also ventured into sculpture and architecture, and was known to have written extensively on these subjects, though none of his writings have survived. He died in Toledo in 1625. | ||||||||||
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Art